


Learning to be okay (high school AU)

by rainy_queer



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: AU, Angst, Bullying, Highschool AU, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, highschool
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 13:03:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20008741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainy_queer/pseuds/rainy_queer
Summary: Highschool AU for Sanders Sides-





	Learning to be okay (high school AU)

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning for physical bullying, f slur, cursing, anxiety attack, mentions of blood/ self harm/ possible abuse.

Virgil's POV

Virgil sighed as he pulled his black hood over his head. He glanced nervously around the office while his father talked to the principle. He tuned them out, focusing on his hoody strings, trying to calm his anxiety over attending a new school. He thought about his best friend back home and sighed again. His father still didn't let him have a phone, so it was likely he would never see her again. 

"Virgil! pay attention!" his father kicked his leg under the table and glared at him. 

"Yes sir." he muttered looking up at the principle, who was handing him his schedule for the rest of the semester, as well as a tardy slip to excuse him from being late to his first class. Virgil gave a smiled politely and took it from him.

He said goodbye to his father and headed to his first class, which was literature. He walked into the class and the teacher looked up and smiled.

"Ah, hello! Class, this is the new student, Virgil. Virgil, take a seat, and please, no hood in the classroom." She said as she took his tardy slip.

He sighed and took off his hood, several people in the class snickering when he glanced around looking for a seat. There was only one, which was next to a kind looking boy wearing glasses and a blue polo shirt. As he sat down next to him, the boy grinned at him and waved excitedly. Virgil gave a small smile, not wanting to be mean to the boy.

"Hi Virgil, I'm Patton!" The boy whisper shouts, and Virgil smiles again.

Virgil ate his lunch in the library, not wanting to deal with the pressure of picking a seat in the cafeteria. After he finished eating he pulled out his notebook, quickly scribbling a few lines into the worn book before the bell rang. The rest of the school day was uneventful, aside from his normal amount of anxiety, but at the end of his last class is where it went downhill. As he was walking out of the front doors of the the school he was pulled aside by the collar of his hoody and slammed into a wall. He looked up to see a boy who was quite a bit taller than him with a scar on the side of his face that looked almost like part of his mouth. 

"H-Hey!" He cringed when he stuttered, seeing the gleam in the others' eyes. 

"Hey yourself, loser. You got a problem, faggot?" said a second boy Virgil hadn't seen before. This boy was slightly shorter than the one with a scar, and had bright green eyes.

He shook his head frantically, hoping they would just leave him alone.

"Hey, Remus over here asked a question, alright. Or is your skull too thick to understand that? Answer him." Scar face growled and punched him in the stomach.

"No, No... there isn't a.. a problem." He choked, holding his stomach in pain.

"Good." Scar face hissed and pushed him to the ground, kicking him in the ribs.

They walked away laughing and Virgil sat up, rubbing his ribs and grimacing. He stood up and started walking home, hood up and headphones in his ears.

-two weeks later-

Roman's POV

I walk out of school after my last class to see my brother and his no good best friend Damien laughing at someone at the ground in the corner near the front doors of the school. I sigh jog over, clenching my fists when I see Remus kicking whoever they're bothering.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yell as I walk over to them.

"C'mon bro, we're just having a bit of fun!" Remus grins as Damien kicks the kid in the stomach again.

I push Damien and he falls to the ground. I stand between him and the kid, who is wearing a black hoody, and is curled in on himself.

"Back off, assholes." I clench my jaw, glaring at Damien and my brother.

"Why can't you mind your business for once, Roman. You aren't prince fucking charming." Remus growls, stepping towards me.

"Dude, lets just go." Damien says, grabbing Remus by the arm and walking away.

I turn around and crouch down next to the kid.

"Hey, kid are you okay?" I ask and he looks up, fear in his eyes. I reach my hand out and he flinches, scooting backwards, and I pull my hand back, not wanting to scare him.

"Hey, hey. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just trying to see if you're okay." He looks up at me again and I see blood smeared near his mouth.

"Woah, dude, you're bleeding."

He bring a sleeve to his mouth and tries to wipe away the blood, but winces in pain.

I scoot closer to him, and he watches me cautiously.

"Hey, don't worry buddy I promise I'm not gonna hurt you. Can you sit up? I wanna make sure you're okay?" I give him what I hope is a comforting smile.

He hesitantly sits up, crossing his legs and focusing on his shoelaces, which he is now messing with, his hand just peeking out of his over-sized hoody.

I pull my first aid kid out from my back pack and set in next to me.

"Is it okay if I take a look at your face?" He looks up trough his bangs and nods carefully.

I slowly reach out and take off his hood, gently lifting his chin up to look at his injuries, and have to stop myself from gasping. This kid is so fucking pretty. He has dark brown, almost black eyes, which have black eye shadow underneath them and are adamantly avoiding my gaze. I frown when I see his nose is bleeding and he has several small cuts on his face, as well as a busted lip. Not to mention the giant black eye (not the makeup either).

I take a sanitary wipe from my first aid kit and start my cleaning the blood under his nose and near the cuts covering his face. 

"I'm gonna clean the cuts, okay? It might sting a little, I'm sorry." He nods slightly.

I apologize quietly every time he flinches as I clean his cuts. I gently lift his jaw, making sure I didn't miss any cuts and frown when I see a bruise around his neck.

"I'm Roman by the way." I say while grabbing a few band-aids from my kit. There's a pause as I put band-aids on two cuts that haven't stopped bleeding.

".... Virgil." I almost miss it, he says it so quietly.

"That's a very nice name." I smile at him. I see him blushing as I put on the last band-aid.

"I saw them kicking you, but I understand if you aren't comfortable with me helping me patch you up under your shirt. Is there anywhere else you're hurt?" I ask and he blushes more.

"um... my.. uh... wrist hurts a lot.... Remus uh.. stepped on it.... when I tried to uh.. get up yesterday..." He murmurs, still not meeting my eyes.

"Do you mind if I see?" I ask gently, holding out my palm.

He rolls up his right sleeve to show his wrist wrapped messily in what looks to be a ripped up shirt.

I frown as I unwrap his wrist to see that it's heavily bruised and swollen.

"Can you move it at all?" I ask, looking up at him in concern.

He avoids my eyes and shakes his head slowly.

"Virgil that means it's probably broken, you have to go to the hospital." He shakes his head frantically, pulling his arm back.

"I am not telling my father about this." He looks more terrified than before, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Shit, dude. It's okay Virgil, uh, don't cry. We don't have to tell your dad, alright. It's okay." What the fuck did his dad do to make Virgil so afraid?

"Just. Just let me take you to my house. My mom's a nurse and has some stuff at home." He looks more panicked.

"You-you said that he- that Remus is your brother - I can't- I can't" He starts to breathe very heavily and unevenly. Shit. He's having one of those things my cousin has.

"Hey, Virgil, it's okay, my parents are divorced! Remus lives with my dad, alright buddy. You gotta breath, okay?" What helps Eliza? Right okay, that breathing exercise.

"Virgil, can you hear me?" He nods. "Okay Virgil, I need you to breath in for four seconds. One, two, three, four." He breathes in. "Okay, now hold it for seven. Three, four, five, six, seven. Now out for eight. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. There you go buddy, you're doing great. Can you do that again for me? There you go, good job."

After about a minute of this Virgil looks up at me, his eyes red, and his makeup smeared. I smile at him and gently wipe the tears from his cheek.

"He won't be there?" He asks hesitantly. I shake my head in conformation.

"No, he won't be there. Would it be okay for my mom to help with your wrist, and your ribs?" He nods slowly.

I put away my first aid kit before standing up and offering my hand to help him up. He grabs it with his good arm and stands. 

"Where's your backpack?" I ask, glancing around for it, not seeing it anywhere.

He silently walks over to the trashcan near the entrance and pulls of the lid with his left hand and I run over, peering in to see his backpack , with the contents spilled out.

"Assholes." I mutter, grabbing his back and helping him but his textbooks back in it. I hear him sigh and look up at him. He's holding an old tattered notebook that is soaked in a mystery liquid from the garbage.

"Dammit." He mutters sadly, flipping through the pages and frowning. He sits down and sighs deeply.

"Are- are you alright?" I ask gently, putting my hand on his shoulder. 

"It was my mom's. She gave it to me before she died. Every day since she found out she had cancer she wrote to me. Now I write to her. I read them to her at her grave. It's dumb, but it helps me not miss her as much- and now..." He sighs again.

"I- I'm so sorry Virgil. Is the writing all smeared?" He shakes his head.

"It's in pencil."

"Well, at least there's that, right? The pages will just be a bit wrinkly is all." I say, putting his last binder in his bag. I smile gently at him, helping him up again, and slinging both our backpacks over my shoulder. 

"You don't have to carry my bag, Roman." He says, seeming worried.

"I know, I want to." I smile at him, starting to walk towards my house.

"I guess your brother was wrong, huh?" Virgil says quietly, which I'm beginning to think is his normal volume.

"About what?" 

"You are prince charming." he smiles shyly.

"Anytime, my princess." I grin, bowing dramatically.

"Pfft, that's hetero-normative as hell." He chuckles, freezing and slapping his hand to his mouth, looking up at me in fear as I turn to look at him.

"I don't mean- not to say-"

"Virgil, calm down, I'm gay as fuck." I grin at him, winking.

"But you're so- you're so..... you can't be-" He seems confused.

"I'm so what?" 

"I don't know, it's just.... well, nobody would be surprised to learn I'm gay, they usually guess without me telling them. I'm y'know, short and scrawny and weird. I wear all black and sit in the back corner of class whenever possible. But you- you're- you're brave and strong and confident and funny. You look like god spent too much time making you look just right and I'm.... ugly." I star at him as he plays with his hoody string.

"Virgil." He doesn't acknowledge me. I gently lift his chin so he's looking at me.

"First of all, lets dispel this whole you being ugly thing. That is an absolute lie. You are beautiful. Second, anyone could be gay, from a jock to a ballet dancer. Gay isn't an insult or a bad thing. It's awesome and so are you. Plus, I'm a theater kid, so I've got one stereotype going for me." His eyes are looking anywhere but me, his cheeks flushed.

"Virgil, look at me." He meets my eyes anxiously. "You are not ugly, and you are not bad. I promise." 

We walk the rest of the way to my house in silence.

"Okay this is my house. don't stress about meeting my mom, she's super nice. She works night shifts so she's home." He nods as I lead him to my door, holding it open for him.

"Mom! Can you c'mere!" I shout upstairs and grin in Virgil's direction.

She's soon down the stairs and she gasps when she sees Virgil.

"Oh, you poor thing! Come, sit on the kitchen table, I'll get my kit. Roman, what happened?" She asks me while leading us to the kitchen.

"Those blockheads Remus and Damien happened Ma, his wrist is broken and he probably has a lot of bruising and stuff on his stomach, I saw them kicking him. I already patched up his face." I frown as he winces while hopping up on the table, and hold him steady by his shoulder.

"I knew it was a bad idea for Remus to stay with your father." She sighs as she pulls out her first aid kit.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" She asks Virgil, smiling at him as she sets the kit on the table.

"Virgil, ma'am." He says, avoiding her gaze.

"It's very nice to meet you Virgil, I wish it was under better circumstances, but it is still a pleasure. My name is Victoria. Can I see your wrist please?" Virgil rolls up his sleeve.

"Now honey, I won't question why you aren't going to the hospital, but this means I can't give you an x-ray, so this is going to hurt, but I need to make sure I don't need to set your bones. Roman, come here. Virgil, you can hold his hand if you like to help distract from the pain." I hold out my hand and he shakes his head, blushing.

My mom gives me a look and I keep my hand there. She starts to touch his wrist and he instantly grabs my hand tightly wincing.

"Holy fuu-dge nuggets. Oh my god! Son of a-" He grimaces, trying not to curse in front of my mom, which I find adorable.

"There, all done. There's definitely a fracture, but I don't need to set it, which is good. Now, what color cast do you want? I have red, blue, green, and purple."

Virgil sheepishly lets go of my hand. "Sorry, Roman." He mutters to me before turning to my mom. "Purple please, ma'am."

"Now now, Virgil, please just call me Victoria." She says.

It only takes about ten minutes for Virgil's cast to be done, and my mom explains every step to help ease Virgil's anxiety.

"Is it alright if I take a look at your ribs?" My mom asks and Virgil hesitantly nods.

"Do you- do you want me to go?" I ask softly and Virgil's eyes snap to me.

"Pl.... please don't" He murmurs, blushing. 

"Okay, you can grab my hand if you get nervous or anything." I smile warmly and he nods.

Virgil slips off his black hoody and I frown when I see what look like self harm scars on his left wrist- they look old, but I am still saddened by the sight. He hesitantly pulls off his shirt and stares at his knees. The first thing I notice is how skinny he is. I can see his ribs and I frown at the heavy bruising and scrapes. I also see some old, long scars on his back and my brow furrows. I see him start to look at me so I switch my expression to a comforting one. As my mom looks at his bruises he reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing his eyes shut. I squeeze his hand gently and smile as I see his shoulders have freckles spattered across them. My mom spends a couple minutes cleaning and wrapping his scrapes before stepping back.

"Alright, sweetie. You have some scrapes and some pretty bad bruising, but nothing too serious." She smiles and he lets go of my hand, quickly putting his shirt and jacket back on.

"Thank you ma- Victoria." Virgil smiles shyly. 

"Of course honey. Tonight Roman is having one or two friends over for dinner, would you like to join them? I'll be at work, but Roman's friends are very kind." She smiles, glancing at me to make sure it's okay. I, of course, nod.

Virgil glances nervously at me and I grin at him.

"Trust me buddy, my friends are awesome. You'll love 'em." My smile widens when I think about them.

"If- if it's not a bother.... I don't- my father doesn't have extra money to waste on buying my food." He mumbles and me and my mom share a look.

"It's not a bother at all. I don't think I could think of buying you anything as a waste." I smile as he blushes.

"Thank you." He avoids eye contact and fiddles with the fabric part of his cast near his thumb.

"Seriously Virgil, don't worry about it." I smile warmly at him and he nods, a small smile playing at his lips.


End file.
